The Best I Could Do
by MusicRocks807
Summary: With a 'relationship' like theirs, options for occasions like Valentine's Day were... limited, to say the least. But hey, at least he tried.


Karai sighed in disgust, her warm breath gathering in her facial armour. She was no stranger to normal traditions - she understood that the fourteenth of February was Valentines Day, and that romance was pretty much the only thing addressed. She also knew that _today_ was the fourteenth of February, and so had expected to see more couples out and about while she was patrolling with her Foot-Bots. What she couldn't, for the life of her, understand, was why so many couples were _intimate_ without closing the window-blinds.

Suddenly, she spotted something in the distance. "Foot-Bots, stay alert," she ordered.

She leapt across the rooftops to get closer, until she could make it what - and where - the thing was. A stack of 'something' was arranged on top of the Byerly Building. Immediately, Karai issued another order: "Watch out for the Turtles." If something happened at the Byerly Building, it often meant Leonardo.

Upon closer inspection, however, Karai noticed that it was in fact a pile of random garbage. "What the hell...?" she murmured. She carefully took apart the structure, determined to discover its significance. Surely Leonardo - whom she was still assuming to be the culprit - wouldn't have taken the time to piece together something like this without weaving in a deeper meaning.

As suspected, Karai spotted... _something_ at the bottom of the stack. The thing itself, whatever it was, didn't appear to be too large, so she presumed the objects piled around it were merely to make it more noticeable from a distance. Whether or not this was intended for her, _someone_ was obviously meant to find it. Finally having removed enough of the trash, the girl lifted the items and examined them.

A single, slightly-crushed rose, a patched-up pocket-size bear, and a piece of folded paper with a red-chalk heart drawn on it.

Once she opened the paper - a home-made card, it seemed - she found that her name was crudely written inside, along with the simple message of, _I know this is't much, but it's the best I could do. We kind of have limited resources. Happy Valentine's Day, anyway. From, Leo._

"Of course," she sighed to herself, before a devious expression crossed her face. "Foot-Bots, retreat. I have something I need to take care of..."

* * *

Later that night, Leonardo and his brothers were out patrolling. Luckily, there were no Kraang droids or Foot soldiers in sight, meaning that the Turtles didn't have anyone to fight and could head home.

"Aw yeah, dudes! No face-smashing battles tonight!" cheered Michelangelo, waving his fists in the air triumphantly.

Donatello groaned. "You realise that just means Raph is gonna have to take out his anger on us though, right?"

Mikey's face fell. "Huh. Didn't think of that."

Raphael cracked his knuckles in response.

As his brothers began to traipse towards the man-hole, Leo surveyed his environment, catching sight of a certain building not too far away. "You guys go on ahead... I'll catch up with you in a bit," he promised, darting away before his brothers could question him.

Thankfully, they didn't follow, only staring after him in varying mixes of confusion and annoyance. This meant that he could hurry to the Byerly Building in peace. He knew it was impatient of him to check literally hours after he had planted the surprise, but he couldn't help himself; he had to know if she'd found it.

It became clear that she had, as his elaborate display had disappeared, a single piece of folded paper in its place. As he got closer, he noticed there was writing on it - Japanese writing, to be precise.

There, in perfect Japanese scrawl, were the words, "_Anata no mewotojite"_. _Close your eyes, Leo_. He grinned in nervous anticipation, knowing there was only one person who could've left him the note. And though he knew perfectly well that this could be the perfect trap... Leo calmly closed his eyes, waiting patiently.

Almost immediately, he felt a warmth press into his chest and wrap around his neck. He curled his arms around the lithe figure to hold her closer. A gasp escaped him as she touched her lips to the corner of his mouth. His grip went slack, and she took advantage of this, wriggling her way free and disappearing. When his eyes snapped open, she was gone.

"Of course..." he muttered under his breath, thumbing the piece of paper.

Curiously, he unfolded it, and his heart stopped for a second.

_Sore wa haruka ni arimasendeshitaga, sore wa watashi ga nani ga dekiru saikōdatta ~ Karai._

"It was not much, but it was the best I could do..." Leo grinned, hoping she was nearby to see. "Karai, it was a lot more than you think."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any incarnation of TMNT... quite obviously, considering I'm certain that I managed to make them OOC in a 400-word one-shot somehow... Sigh.**

**Just a cute(ish) thing for Valentine's Day... IDK. I'm working on a longer story, but I wanted to practice a little first. So, if you feel like leaving a review, that would be very helpful (even flames - just feedback would be useful!).**


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